Lara Sophia 
Calling a spade a spade!
Meredith Marks isn’t tipping toeing around how she really feels about costar and former friend Jen Shah.
In a new interview with Entertainment Tonight, the Real Housewives of Salt Lake City star slammed Jen for not taking the criminal charges against her seriously.
“There’s absolutely no way anybody could have possibly anticipated things to unfold the way that they do,” Meredith starts.
In March, Jen was arrested for allegedly operating a nationwide telemarking scheme that targeted “vulnerable, often elderly working-class people.”
A month later, Jen pleaded not guilty to federal charges of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and money laundering. If found guilty, Jen faces up to 30 years in prison.
“These are very, very, serious charges in a district that has an extraordinarily high conviction rate,” Meredith notes.
“I would be taking them very seriously,” Meredith says of the charges. “I know she pokes fun at things here and there, like the Kim Kardashian comment [about joining her legal team], or whatever. I can’t, for the life of me, imagine that she’s not taking them seriously. I think maybe that’s her coping mechanism. I don’t know. … Her way of dealing with it may just be making light of it.”
As for the narrative that she tipped off the feds to Jen’s whereabouts before her arrest, Meredith says it’s nothing more than “projecting and deflecting.” She also notes that she only met Jen in 2019, seven years after the federal investigation began.
“You do the math,” she quips.
“Jen can be a very intimidating person, and I think a lot of the women are very intimidated, and it’s easy to deflect and project,” she says before admitting, “I don’t really know who she is.”
As for the future of her relationship with Jen, Meredith says, “It’s very hard for me to really come to a full resolution when I can’t understand it, but I can put it to rest, you know? And move forward. I mean, I’m not someone who likes to dwell on stuff. I like to move forward. I do believe that people strive to do better. They can do better. And that you have to have levels of forgiveness.”
“I mean, even if Jen ends up found guilty and whatever else, you pay your dues, you serve your time,” she continues. “There’s restitution; there’s this, that, and the other. It doesn’t mean that you’re forever scarred by this. We have to move forward. And things do move forward in life. Does it mean that I want to be her best friend? No. But can she make good on these things? If, in fact, she did do them, to some degree, of course. That’s the point. We wouldn’t be human if we didn’t try to do better.”
The Real Housewives of Salt Lake City airs on Sundays at 9 p.m. ET.
Thoughts on Meredith’s comments? Do you think Jen is taking the charges against her seriously? Sound off below!
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